To Simonstown: Day Two: Riding to Cape of Good Hope

December 22, 2015

"Downhills are meant to go fast" Amanda says flying by Rachel on the downhill. "I want to enjoy the view" Rachel replies. The rain is gone, the day is beautiful.

Two days in a row, an Egg McMuffin for breakfast. It is good cycling food. We make our way down the coast and reach the entrance to Cape of Good Hope National Park. There is a very long row of cars, we make our way to the front. The fee for cyclists is 5 Rand more than an adult in a car! Amanda decides to wait for us, she has been in the park many times.

In 1994, we set off from Capetown to Simonstown, camped and then did a day ride to the point. The road we are on today is not familiar to us nor the viewpoint at the furthest southwestern point of the peninsula. When we return to the entrance an hour and half or more later, Amanda is not there. We go down to a viewpoint and see if there is a message from her, but we have no internet service. We continue on, periodically stopping to see if there is service.

Then, a message comes through...Amanda is at a pub drinking beer. We will pedal faster for beer and meet up with her. There is only one option for camping tonight, the Froggy Pond campground. Seems like a theme, yesterday we ate at a restaurant, The Toad.

There had been a fire and the campground was without electricity or hot water, but Amanda had negotiated a reduced price for camping and hot water became available for us to shower. We have the campground all to ourselves.

As we crawled into our tent, we could see the Southern Cross above the horizon in one direction and looking out across the Indian Ocean. In a weeks time we will be looking at the Indian Ocean from the other side.

Riding the last kilometer to the Cape of Good Hope.

At the Cape. This is not actually the southern most point of Africa, that is Cape Agulhas to the east of here, but this is where the Indian and Atlantic Oceans meet.

Some good waves are pounding the cliffs.

View towards the lighthouse on Cape Point.

Cape Point in the distance. We are riding along the Indian Ocean now towards Simonstown.

Amanda negotiates us a good price for two "where two oceans meet" beer mugs at the restaurant we had our dinner.

Today's ride: 76 km (47 miles)
Total: 10,850 km (6,738 miles)

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